This is third in a series of blog posts about Women In Business and Fatigue. I know anytime I ask a woman, how she is, the answer is almost always: "I'm dead tired", or " I'm beat", or "I'm exhausted". Those are the usual responses and I am guilty myself of answering the same way when I have felt totally drained.
Our question today is: "How do I "Conserve" my daily energy?" I can just hear you now…."How can I conserve when I don't have enough to work with in the first place?" Now isn't that a great question?!
Are you ready to take some simple questions and by doing just the opposite you will increase you energy immediately? "….that sounds too easy….what's the catch?" The catch is you are attached deeply to these things and to give them up means you have to give up something – The stress and The fatigue that they cause.
1. Who drains the life right out of you the moment you encounter them?
2. When do I eat a healthy meal when I am hungry?
3. What night(s) during the week do I work late or go to an activity that is not of my choosing?
4. How often do I just "suck it up" and not say something when I am hurt or taken advantage of?
5. How many nights in the past week did I get in bed by 10 pm and get a full 8?
OK, I know you had immediate answers to all 5 questions!
So how can you "CONSERVE" your daily energy?
1. Avoid interaction with this person. You will automatically get a boost of energy.
2. Stop and eat when you are hungry. Have something nutritious with you at all times. These items are already all around you. Toss them in your purse, car or brief case. When you go to do the grocery shopping this week, make a new column and title it "My Energy Foods" and start listing away. This will conserve your daily energy.
3. This one is a clear indication of having "no boundaries". The occasional working late for something is expected, but not every night or every week. Also here, I am including all those mindless after school activities that we parents think our children have to have in order to be "up to speed" with the other kids in order to take full advantage of……?what? You family and your family's schedule is not a democracy. ONE is enough. If you've got a prodigy then let me know and I will give you some great advice otherwise let me tell you what this leads to….Left unchecked this leads to a child who grows up and is always looking to be in a constant state of being on, entertained, busy and does not know how to entertain him/herself, feels restless etc. Freeing up your night time schedule conserves your energy.
4. This is one place where you do need to be in the "Boxing Ring" and stand up for yourself! Open you mouth and speak up. Yes, there may be consequences but you do not need that relationship if that is all you get. If it is a boss or co-worker you may need to go to HR and follow channels, but do not sit in silence and suffer. You will be amazed at how big and tall you feel when you speak up for yourself.
5. Go to bed at 10 pm. No ifs, ands, or buts…….the unfinished wash will still be there, the dishes will still be in the sink, the floor will still need vacuuming, it doesn't matter, you do! You do not need to stay up to listen to the news….it already happened and they will repeat it all over again in the morning and tomorrow night at dinner again, you can get it online. You do not need to know what the weather is going to be anyway….it will happen whether you know what it is or not. When you get up: look out the window and you'll know! It is more important for you to get to sleep and allow your body to repair.
Next time we will explore: How Do I Create Energy In My Life.
Filed under Awareness, Growth, Women In Business by 
Women-In-Business suffer from fatigue and specifically "Adrenal Fatigue" and most do not know what is going on with their bodies. All they know for sure is that they are in overwhelm and totally exhausted and are trapped in the endless cycle of "Fatigue".
Last time we talked about answering some questions. So how did you answer those questions? Your answers are the window into what is going on inside of your body. Let's take a look at those answers in a "general" context and see if you can relate.
1. How do I spend the energy that is available to me each day? When I speak about this topic or when I am coaching a client on the "energy" piece we do a very specific exercise. I have the woman take out the lost few pages of her paper planner (if she is digital, I provide her with the pages) for one week. I place a pack of colored pencils in front of her and we start to color in her life as it truly is. I ask her to color in the hours (out of the 24 she has available to her) that she sleep each night. Remember here that for this "Adrenal Fatigued" woman this will not be a regular sleep pattern. Each night may be different. We take that color and make a "Legend" that let's say "Blue" is "Sleep".
Next we take the next "known"…."Work" and choose another color for work and add it to the "Legend". She is then instructed to color in her work time every day of this week we are looking at.
Next we take the other "knowns" one at a time and choose a color from our box and add each to our "Legend". She is instructed to color in each of those "knowns" every day of this week we are working with.
What happens is that this precious soul visually sees where she spends her available energy each day of any given week.
This is huge for most women. The reason is that they know they are really busy and when you ask them what have they done, they are fuzzy and it is all a big blur. That's "fatigue"!
What are some of the things that are not visible on this "Energy Available" exercise? If I take this a step further and ask this woman: "OK, wow, your week is really full; when do you:
*rest?
*have relaxation?
*take a vacation?
*enjoy your own passionate activities?
*get out into the fresh air?
*have fun?
*become spiritually renewed?
*enjoy friends?
I usually get a blank stare and the trite comment: "….who has time for those?" My comment is that: "…Y-O-U….at this point cannot afford not to build in these moments in your life with your current state of "Fatigue"…!"
Today, I challenge you to do this exercise on your own and use your child's crayons or colored pencils and see what you "Real Life" looks like on paper.
Next time we will look at "Conserving Energy."
Filed under Awareness by
Does this look like you most days? Recently, I got some news from a comprehensive blood test and I wasn't surprised. My doctor told me I have "Adrenal Fatigue". Well, yeah, I have been going at it for some time (well maybe it is more like a couple of decades, but isn't that what I am suppose to do?)
Turns out: "….well, no so much…." So just like you I did some digging, researching and lots of reading and I have educated myself on "Adrenal Fatigue". Here's what I have learned; see if you can identify with any of this.
Stress is addictive. Stress is also cumulative!
Have you experienced any of these items over the past decade:
___death of a loved one
___loss of a job
___loss of your home
___serious illness
___surgery
___bankruptcy
___constant travel across the international date line
___frequent travel across multiple time zones
The items listed above are the big stressors that take lots of time to regain your own internal balance from.
Here is the list of items that are fairly normal occurrences which when piled up over time without the proper balance to normalcy occurring can put you in Adrenal Fatigue: How many of these have you had over the past couple of years?
___abscessed tooth or dental surgery
___flu
___intense physical exertion
___quarrel with a loved one
___pressure in the workplace
___unhappy relationship
___exposure to toxins
These two lists are just a fraction of the items that can lead to Adrenal Fatigue. Fatigue comes from *Small stressors occurring simultaneously and frequently, * when these stressors accumulate over time, & * chronic occurrence.
OK, let's do a little quiz here.
Do you know where your adrenals are in your body?
The adrenals sit just just atop both of your kidneys. There are two adrenal glands. The adrenals are protected by your rib cage and are located in your lower back area.
Do you know what they are for (in other words their function)?
The adrenals help your body deal with stress from injury, disease, work problems, relationship issues and the like. They regulate your hormones. The hormones they regulate are Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, DHEA, Pregnenolone,Progesterone, Estrogeones, Testosterones, Androstenedione, Crotisol, Aldosterone. All big words for sure and each of these in turn has a specific action. If you are really interested in reading up on this I can highly recommend: "Adrenal Fatigue" by James L. Wilson, ND, PhD.
The good news about all of this is that Y-O-U can reverse this fatigue!
Here is some of the most empowering words I have ever read:
You do not have to give our power to someone else in the hope that they know what to do for you!
Here's my take on this:
Recovery comes from Y-O-U taking your life back and Y-O-U making the choices, the decisions. Y- O- U design your own recovery, you implement your recovery, you adjust your recovery and you get the immediate benefits from your choices and actions!
Here are 7 steps to making a recovery plan for yourself. You must know the answers to these 7 questions before you can design a program.
1. How do I spend the energy that is available to me each day?
2. How do I conserve my energy?
3. How do I create my energy?
4. What do I eat?
5. What do I drink?
6. What thoughts feed my mind daily?
7. What beliefs do I base my life on?
Did it every occur to you that what you put in is what you get back? It's that old saying; "garbage in = garbage out" only in this case "Adrenal Fatigue" is what comes out.
Over the next several posts, I want to educate you on this topic and how it reeks havoc in the lives of Women-In-Business!
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In the last post we talked about how to plan out the steps in "Transformation" of your Business life. In this post we are going to take that to all of the other areas of your life.
Once again, when you think about transforming one area of your life, what area pops into your head first?
For some of you this may seem a be surreal. You may not think of your life as segmented into areas so, here's a little help for you. As coaches we sometimes do a little assessment of a clients life by giving them a list of areas of life and asking them to rate each area on a scale of 1 t 10 with one being poor and ten being perfect. Now, in reality no one is a one nor is every area a ten. Most of us who are normal fall somewhere in the middle. We often as coaches, coach our clients to move the number by just one up or one down (if they are in over whelm) in order to improve or transform their lives in some manner.
So here are the areas that are typical for most of us: Professional Life, Financial Life, Health and Wellness Side of Life, Parenting Life, Social Relationships, Private/Intimate Relationships, Spritual Life, Fun In Life, Living Environment (Home), Personal Growth Opportunities, Professional Growth Opportunities and you may feel free to add any other areas of your life which are important or segment these into something else. No two of us has the list of items.
We will now employ the same process we did the last time. What you do is to insert the specific area of your life and decide to work on just that one thing. At the top of your piece of paper write that area of life and then proceed with the process.
I am going to think about transforming _______________________________Area of my life.
What are you looking to transform?
When you personally think; "….I need to change something (in other words "Transform") in myself, my world, my career, my relationships (or whatever that is)…" What is it that pops into your mind first?
That is the thing that you should write down. When you write it down. Write the first word or phrase that pops up. Then think about it for a moment or two and then write it down underneath your first impression in sentence form. Next ask yourself: "Who", "What", "When", "Where", "Why do I want to transform"? These are pivotal to your ability to move forward from the initial thought that "…somethings got to change….something has to go through a transformation….".
Do you understand this process?
Let's write it down step by step and expand on what we are doing i this "Transformation".
Step 1 Decision to think about: "I want to have a transformation in my _____________________________ life"
Step 2 Think about the statement in step 1. Write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you say it.
Step 3 Look at the word or phrase you have written down, now close your eyes and let your mind dwell on the word or words. What comes up?
Step 4 Write down in a sentence what you just thought about. If it is lots of sentences, write them down cynically and legibly.
Step 5 Looking at the list what jumps out out you? Is it a pattern of ideas, actions, or is it a person's name, or something else?
Step 6 Write down what jumps out at you.
Step 7 Which one of those has the most "energy" associated with it?
Step 8 Make that one the first one on your list of "Transformation"
Step 9 Look at the the others and prioritize them as to the "energy" associated with them. These will become 2 through 10 for example.
Step 10 Take a look at #1. Close your eyes and think about what needs transforming.
Step 11 Write that down.
Step 12 What are all the ways that that transformation can take place? Think about it. The easy things, the tough ways, the not in a million years will this or that happen.
Step 13 Write them all down, do not quantify them or leave them off because they are ridiculous or absurd. These are the ones that make it come true sometimes.
Step 14 Which ones on your list are within your grasp, power, or otherwise doable from your place right now in the organization?
Step 15 Take each on and write out a "plan" of how you will accomplish each one, who you need to interface with to make it happen, put a date of completion next to each item
Step 16 Put a start date on the page, then all your steps and the completion date for each.
Step 17 Begin
Step 18 When your completion date rolls around, evaluate how you did. Remember small victories are still victories!
Step 19 Celebrate! all the victories!
Step 20 Go back to that original list and choose number 2 and repeat the process until all the items on your list are exhausted and you will be transformed!
How did that work for you?
If you found it to be of value and of benefit, you may want to repeat the process for each of those areas in your own life where you feel a real hole, a lack of completion or you want to be at a different or higher number. This is a process and it takes time. But you have the rest of your life to make it the best one your can possibly live.
Recently, I did a keyword search on some words that I thought had high traffic on the Internet and the word "transform" was one of these words. In fact when I typed it into the keyword search tool, the number was 5 million! What that says is that there are 5 million people out there looking for "transform" ing something. That is a whole lot of lookers.
What are you looking to transform? I also did that key work search also and you know what came up: life and business. That's no big surprise. When you put this word "Transforming Business" or "Transforming Life" into a Google search bar you get millions of "solutions". How in the world is a person suppose to wade through all of that. I know from my experience as a coach and consultant that we (mere humans) become transfixed and linked and distracted for long periods of time and become paralyzed and then something happens to slap us back into the here and now and suddenly we are late for something else and we leave the computer screen and abandon our quest for "Transformation".
When you personally think; "….I need to change something (in other words "Transform") in myself, my world, my career, my relationships (or whatever that is)…" What is it that pops into your mind first?
That is the thing that you should write down. When you write it down. Write the first word or phrase that pops up. Then think about it for a moment or two and then write it down underneath your first impression in sentence form. Next ask yourself: "Who", "What", "When", "Where", "Why do I want to transform"? These are pivotal to your ability to move forward from the initial thought that "…somethings got to change….something has to go through a transformation….".
Do you understand this process?
Let's write it down step by step and expand on what we are doing i this "Transformation".
Step 1 Decision to think about: "I want to have a transformation in my business life"
Step 2 Think about the statement in step 1. Write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you say it.
Step 3 Look at the word or phrase you have written down, now close your eyes and let your mind dwell on the word or words. What comes up?
Step 4 Write down in a sentence what you just thought about. If it is lots of sentences, write them down cynically and legibly.
Step 5 Looking at the list what jumps out out you? Is it a pattern of ideas, actions, or is it a person's name, or something else?
Step 6 Write down what jumps out at you.
Step 7 Which one of those has the most "energy" associated with it?
Step 8 Make that one the first one on your list of "Transformation"
Step 9 Look at the the others and prioritize them as to the "energy" associated with them. These will become 2 through 10 for example.
Step 10 Take a look at #1. Close your eyes and think about what needs transforming.
Step 11 Write that down.
Step 12 What are all the ways that that transformation can take place? Think about it. The easy things, the tough ways, the not in a million years will this or that happen.
Step 13 Write them all down, do not quantify them or leave them off because they are ridiculous or absurd. These are the ones that make it come true sometimes.
Step 14 Which ones on your list are within your grasp, power, or otherwise doable from your place right now in the organization?
Step 15 Take each on and write out a "plan" of how you will accomplish each one, who you need to interface with to make it happen, put a date of completion next to each item
Step 16 Put a start date on the page, then all your steps and the completion date for each.
Step 17 Begin
Step 18 When your completion date rolls around, evaluate how you did. Remember small victories are still victories!
Step 19 Celebrate! all the victories!
Step 20 Go back to that original list and choose number 2 and repeat the process until all the items on your list are exhausted and you will be transformed!
This is a great process because you can insert those other areas of your life other than "Business" and get the same results. We will talk about that next time.
Filed under Women In Business by
What day on your calendar is the "Red Letter Day" for "redesigning your life"? The last time you told yourself, "Today is the day, I have got to do something different….this isn't working!"…when was that?
For many of us it might be on our birthday as we take a millisecond to reflect on the years gone by. For others it is "New Years Day". And still for others it is a moment of "Transition" when we look at that road we have walked down and reflect. Perhaps it is you place your personal items into a box and walk from the job you have held for years and put it in the trunk. Or as you sign Divorce papers and walk "all alone" to the bus to ride to your new apartment. Redesigning our lives looks and feels very different under each of these scenarios which I have just listed here.
Some of us on the other hand just roll along through life and these things do not even give us time for "pause". What makes these two types of people living their lives out here on this blue planet so different?
Every single one of us has many, many transitions in our lives. I am sure that there is a list somewhere of the average number of transitions in a human beings life based on all sorts of factors, a sociology major who has done a PhD dissertation on the topic would know. And it isn't about the statistics is it? No. It is about how we feel about ourselves when we are in the throws of the redesign which is the crux of the matter.
Are you a person who has designed your life since childhood and are living out your dreams now? These folks are few and far between. I will say that I do know what this looks like, feels like and lives like. I have coached clients to this dream. I actually live in this space myself and it is a wonderful place to dwell. That doesn't mean that there haven't been bumps in the road traveled, because they have been there.
Do you remember that blog before about the "Filter" or the "Glasses" that we look at our world through? This is the same thing. The redesign is actually a changing of your filter.
Think about it this way. Let's say you have always lived in the country and you have lots of "stuff" that goes along with living in a place where you have wide open space. You have a car, patio furniture, a bar-b-cue, golf clubs, lots of furniture and a long commute every day. At some point you get a new job in a big metropolitan city say New York City and "country living" is no longer an option. Your have to change your FILTER big time. Suddenly, a car, golf clubs, patio furniture and the like are a huge burden to you in a large city. Your view of living must change in order to make your life work. That's an example of really redesigning your life and changing your filter.
What's your view of life today?
What "Filter" are you using?
What would you redesign if you could do anything and their were no barriers?
Filed under Growth by
These are two of the most important words in the English language. Indeed, these are two of the foundational corner stones of why people want to come to the United States because of the dream of "Options and Opportunities" and the perception that "Options and Opportunities" do not exist where they currently reside.
Where do you look for your own "Options and Opportunities"? Perhaps you are looking at the business ladder in the the career field you have choosen. Perhaps you are looking for the opportunity to start your own business at some point in your life. Perhaps you are looking in the options of buying a home, moving to a new state, or something else.
We are all "searching" for that next opportunity to………(what)…….?
The "WHAT" is different for each one of you reading this. That is a fact!
The "HOW" is also different for each one of you reading this post. That is a fact!
The "WHEN" is another interrogative that is different for each one of your reading this blog post today. That is a fact!
What is similar about the "searching" for the next opportunity?
Say those things that you think is the same for each of you. Drawing a blank? Well, let's explore that blankness for a moment.
You each have first had the "dream" of the next opportunity. Right!
You each have given some "thought" to that next opportunity. Right!
You each have a "Plan" when the next opportunity, suddenly shows up and you can say "YES!" Ahhhhhhh,…….probably not!
You each have put aside the money that you might need in order to jump when the door of opportunity presents itself, right? Ahhhh…., I'm not so sure about that one…..
You each have a support team in place that will cheer you on, give you sound advice, understand the long days and night of sweat equity you need to put into the opportunity when it presents itself.? "Definitely….that would be a "NO!""
Here's what happens in our lives since we don't know what we want, where we want to go and are not prepared by even taking the time to follow the day dream past the dreaming stage to get it onto a napkin or piece of paper, we are never ready when Opportunity presents itself.
I also know that because we here in the United States have millions of "Options" available to us, we become paralyzed and can't make a decision. We also take for granted that those "millions of options" will always be there.
Some of us are just the opposite however. We have a "favorite" thing and that's all we purchase. If the manufacture suddenly changes the packaging, flavor or scent, we are enraged that we can no longer find "Our Favorite Product". So what do you do?
Think about a product that you have purchased for more than 10 years. You got it. What is it that you like or love about that product? Why do you keep buying it? My guess is that, this product fills a very specific need in your life exactly, just like a puzzle piece in a puzzle. It does everything that you need it to do and nothing more and nothing less. You are "stable and satisfied" when you buy it, see it on your shelf at home, and when you use it, it gives you the experience that know it will.
When we search for "Options and Opportunities" that are there for the purpose of taking us to the next level of experience in our personal lives or our professional lives, that thing we just discussed in the last paragraph changes. Let's call that our "filter" on life.
Your filter is liking putting on you sunglasses on a sunny day. Or if you wear corrective lens your world look fuzzy until you put in your contacts or your glasses and then ""Your World" comes into "FOCUS". This is what happens when we are searching and looking for options and opportunities. It often reminds me of "Tax Season" with the preparer looking and searching for options and opportunities to find deductions and savings.
What is your "Filter: in looking for the "Options and Opportunities" in your life and business?
Filed under Awareness by